Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.70.23.01
Surrogate Motherhood as a Contemporary Form of Exploitation of Women and Child Trafficking
Dubravka Hrabar
orcid.org/0000-0002-4103-8190
; Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The emergence of parenthood with new features, including surrogate motherhood, was made possible in the post-modern age through a new liberalist approach to social values and the development of bio-medical sciences. Surrogate motherhood is a new legal institute enabling one to become a parent in the event of infertility through a contractual arrangement with a surrogate mother. As a rule, this procedure results in the separation of genetic, social and legal parenthood, which creates utter legal confusion. Consequently, such contracts give rise to a multitude of ethical and legal issues. Some legal systems allow surrogacy contracts, even those featuring an international element, thus placing private relations between different interested parties in the hands of an individual, his wishes and the autonomy of his will. In doing so, they annul or transform public policy (ordre public) and morality contained in the presumption mater semper certa est. While the rights of interested subjects may or may not converge, the fact remains that the central subject of this contractual relationship – the child – has the least rights, although the contract cannot be realised without its existence. Surrogacy contracts with international elements give rise to major disputes that are heard by the European Court of Human Rights involving the aspect of the violation of the right to respect for private and family life. The Court’s case law initially protected the rights of children and their welfare (e.g. Paradiso and Campanelli vs. Italy). However, most recent judgements (e.g. Mannesson vs. France and Labassee vs. France) illustrate a turnabout towards the de facto exploitation of women and child trafficking and reinforce the Court in overstepping the limits of its own authority. The Court resorts to freedom of movement of citizens as a European value and gives this concept precedence over national family law systems and their values. European legislation is deficient and subject to constant pressure by different interest groups to adopt regulation that encourages and approves surrogate motherhood. Traditional values, national public policies and the rule of law are attacked from these two directions – European case law and potential global and European legislation. An additional fact causing concern is that the Court’s judgements do not recognise the axiomatic separation of personal (vis-à-vis property) rights and the feature of non-transferability of the right to parenthood as a personal right. This legalises fraudulent behaviour of contractual parties and, last but not least, places the child on the margins of the relationship by instrumentalising it, turning it into an object of trafficking and blatantly violating its various rights.
Ključne riječi
surrogate motherhood; public order; exploitation of women; rights of children; European Court of Human Rights
Hrčak ID:
244573
URI
Datum izdavanja:
28.9.2020.
Posjeta: 3.369 *